Estrogen, Progesterone, and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-2 in Malignant Breast Lesions

Abstract

Background and Objective: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in India. Immunohistochemical study helps to carry out a better management of the disease and to determine the prognosis. This study was conducted to correlate the histopathology of breast tumors, with reference to tumor grade, and common immunohistochemical (IHC) markers such as estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) status. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the pathology department at tertiary care hospital. One hundred patients of breast carcinoma who underwent mastectomy were included in this study. These specimens were evaluated for both histopathological and IHC study using ER, PR, and HER-2 markers. All the experimental data were analyzed for correlations with histopathological features of specimens and IHC status of the specimens. Results: There were a total of 100 patients ranging from 30 to 70 years of age. The peak incidence was between 40 and 50 years. The most common histologic type of breast carcinoma in our study was IDC (NOS) type (85%), majority of our patients presented with Grade 3 tumors (49%) followed by Grade 2 (43%) tumors. Maximum numbers of cases were ER+ PR+ HER-2-ve, followed by triple negative tumors. Conclusion: From the present study, it was concluded that incorporating immunohistochemistry-based classification of both ER/PR and HER-2/neu status into the histopathology report using the traditional tumor nodes and metastasis staging and histological grading of breast carcinoma would aid in better therapeutic management and increases the prognostic accuracy while also having the added advantage of being inexpensive and readily available.

Keywords

• Breast cancer
• estrogen receptor
• grading
• human epidermal growth factor receptor
• immunohistochemistry